1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates generally to recycling and more particularly to the reclamation or recovery of reusable or reprocessible materials from a municipal waste-stream. More particularly still the invention relates to the removal and separate recovery of solid waste materials and particularly postconsumer waste materials such as packaging and the like from residential and commercial waste streams by the provision of specialized containment and delivery means.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
With increasing population and burgeoning production of consumer and commercial products, pollution and overburdening of the environment are rapidly becoming one of the prime problems, if not the prime problem, of latter day industrial society. Modern industrial society seriously threatens to pollute its own living space to such an extent as to almost literally drown itself in a sea of waste. While toxic and unsanitary waste products are perhaps the most serious portions of such wastes, the most visible portion, and in some respects, one of the most difficult and expensive portions to dispose of, is the ever-increasing percentage of solid waste material received at solid waste disposal sites such as land fills, incinerators and the like.
Even after incineration of modern wastes, where such is possible, the residue from incineration has to be disposed of in some manner. Furthermore, some solid wastes such as, for example, plastics and the like, which are non-toxic, but voluminous and essentially nondegradable in their original solid state, may evolve toxic fumes during incineration. At best, such incineration increases the burden of gases in the atmosphere such as carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and other gases that may detrimentally increase heat retention in the atmosphere, i.e. the so-called "greenhouse effect". Uncontrolled increases in the daily volume of solid wastes received at disposal sites of limited capacity plus the unavailability of further disposal sites close to centers of population and the resistance of residential populations to having solid waste disposal sites, more commonly referred to as "dumps," in close proximity to their residences, has caused the disposal of such solid wastes and wastes in general to become progressively more onerous and difficult, not to say expensive. Some municipal waste is already being trucked for tens and even hundreds of miles and lack of adequate disposal is agreed by all concerned to be rapidly approaching crisis proportions.
The problem, and indeed crisis, in solid waste disposal is particularly acute in advanced Western industrial nations such as the United States and Canada where the packaging and advertising arts have reached the highest level. Almost all packaging such as wrappings, containers, both for liquids and solids, cushioning materials in packages for fragile articles and other like packaging are either immediately or eventually discarded into the general solid waste stream. Furthermore, with the decreased use of cellulose materials such as paper bags and cartons due to increasing cost and substitution of the frequently cheaper and almost invariably stronger and more attractive petrochemical derived plastic resin substitutes, the materials transported to waste disposal facilities have become more durable and voluminous on a long term basis accentuating already serious disposal problems. The trend to throw-away liquid packaging which is attractive to the consumer because cheap and trouble-free has also added to the ever-increasing bulk of solid waste that must be disposed of.
Various solutions to the mounting solid waste problem have been proposed. For example, there have been proposals to require returnable bottles for beverages. However, the very cheapness of the packages or containers which makes them attractive for packaging frequently renders them insufficiently valuable to be economically worthwhile to clean for reuse or to provide an economic incentive for collection of the old containers versus purchase of new containers. While volunteer organizations have attempted to collect such materials for reuse and recycling, volunteer efforts in the absence of economic incentive have proved an inefficient solution at best and at worst, a mere palliative that masks the seriousness of the problem.
Only in the case of isolated materials or packaging such as, for example, aluminum cans, has reclamation on an economic basis been at least a qualified success. One such special circumstance, in the case of aluminum cans, is the high energy input necessary to refine the metal from the original natural ores, i.e. in the case of aluminum, from bauxite ore, compared to the significantly reduced cost of remelting already used or scrap aluminum and reforming the resulting metal solidified from the melt into new containers. The result of this special thermodynamics of recovery is that it becomes economically worthwhile to provide an economic incentive for individual collection of aluminum containers or cans and reprocessing of such aluminum containers rather than providing new aluminum direct from aluminum ore for manufacture of the cans. The substantially unitary composition of aluminum containers is also an aid in such endeavors, since the remelted aluminum metal obtained from, for example, cans, is substantially the same as that obtained by smelting new ore.
The situation with respect to other solid waste materials such as, for example, so-called tin cans, i.e. steel coated with a tin alloy composition to provide corrosion resistance, is, on the other hand, much less favorable. This is because the heat input necessary to remelt the steel is not a great deal less than that originally necessary to win iron from its original ore and the composite nature of the container structure also causes the remelted material to have a different and inferior composition. Consequently, a further treatment step is necessary to remove the coating material prior to remelting the base steel. The result is that it is cheaper to make new tin cans from newly refined iron ore than to remelt the tin cans, even discounting any cost in collecting the individual cans. The further result is that up to the present time it has not been economically feasible to collect tin cans and all attempts to do so have been pursued purely on a voluntary public benefactor basis. However, if a sufficient volume of cans were available through a large scale collection effort or system, it is possible an efficient stripping of the tin coating could be developed based upon the value of the coating metal itself, whereupon the basic steel could be melted as scrap with no, or at least a minimal, economic detriment. Fortunately, steel or "tin" cans are degradable through rusting to their original constituents as found in iron ore and are not, therefore, as serious a solid waste problem per se as are some of the newer materials such as aluminum and plastics.
The information explosion has also played a large part in the current serious solid waste problem. In particular, the advertising associated with modern industrial society, which advertising is required to encourage competition among numerous suppliers plus continuous consumption and purchase by their consumers or customers, results in itself in a burgeoning of paper products devoted to advertising, not only in newspapers and magazines, but in pure or specialized advertising literature such as the rapidly growing direct mail advertising, sometimes referred to derogatively as "junk mail". Ever increasing percentages of newspaper and other printed news sources are devoted to advertising, both within the pages of the news sheets themselves, and as inserts within such news sheets. Insertion of advertising and special sections into newspapers, often referred to as "stuffing," is one of the fastest growing businesses along with direct mail advertising. This, together with the information explosion itself has created an ever-increasing torrent of printed material of temporary interest only that is quickly thrown away, ending up, in most cases, in solid waste disposal sites.
In the fairly recent past, much of the discarded printed material and particularly newsprint, was collected and recycled into other types of paper goods such as wrapping paper and carton stock. However, with the decrease in the price of resin and plastic materials concomitant with recent increases in petroleum stocks from which resin and plastic materials are made, the market for such secondary or recycled paper products has decreased. In many areas, therefore, it is no longer economically attractive for even volunteer organizations to sponsor collection of waste paper material for recycling. Consequently, most, if not all of such material has been reaching solid waste disposal sites mixed with other solid waste disposables.
More recently, with the recognition by government bodies of the serious solid waste disposal problems, there has been general recognition that something must be done to alleviate the situation. Legislation has consequently been offered or passed for mandatory recycling of certain established types of solid disposables such as glass, plastic, paper, metal of various types and other materials that would otherwise be disposed of at solid waste disposal sites. Such materials can be separated from the normal waste stream either at the source, i.e. in the home or commercial establishment, or at a central collection point or even at a waste disposal site if proper equipment is made available. With full utilization of such recycling it is estimated that from twenty-five to thirty percent or more of the solid waste stream in the usual community can be diverted and recycled back into the industrial stream as used material. For example, clear glass containers and other clear glass articles can be removed from the waste stream and recycled back to use in new containers such as bottles and the like. Plastic articles can, by and large, be separated from other materials if made from thermoplastic materials and remelted together to form low or cheaper grade plastic materials of unspecified or variable composition suitable for various uses such as trash, garbage or leaf bags and the like. Furthermore, these lower grade plastic articles can be continuously recycled back into the same products once the cycle is begun.
While governmental promulgation of recycling procedures and the like can provide an impetus to promote recycling that is not otherwise economically viable, serious problems remain. For example, most legislation has mandated the use of special receptacles and the like for recyclable materials which are then deposited into such special receptacles at the source and collected already separated. Such procedures, sometimes referred to as source separation, while simple and direct, have the serious disadvantage that the consumer has to make the initial separation. Carelessness and inattention can cause misallocation to the incorrect containers and the necessity for the residential customer to purchase proper receptacles as well as monitor their use, tends not to engender good will or cooperation of the ultimate consumer or care in separation of the recyclable materials. Furthermore, it is frequently desirable for the collection personnel to know what is in each container without having to remove the top or otherwise open such container.
It has, heretofore, been known to require separate containers such as trash cans and the like for different types of solid waste material. This has its limits, since it is obviously impractical to require, for example, each residential source of materials to have more than several separate trash receivers in the form of trash cans. Even these trash receivers then must be opened by the trash collector to identify the type of disposal and must be dumped into separate identifiable receivers by the collection personnel, seriously delaying and complicating the collection process.
Trash bags have also been used to receive various types of solid waste. These, however, must then be opened prior to being assigned to one type or other of collectibles at the waste depot or waste disposal cite. Such opening and assignment in itself is time-consuming and fraught with possible opportunities for mistake. Mistake can also easily occur at the primary separation site such as a home or commercial site unless receptacles are clearly labeled. Labeling, however, both at home and for collection personnel, is difficult. In addition, the expense to the user or other point of use operator of providing receptacles or other collection means is likely to significantly decrease their cooperation in the recycling effort through either overt or unconscious resentment. It is clearly, therefore, desirable to make any recycling system or effort as inexpensive to the ultimate user as possible by decreasing or eliminating, if possible, any expenses of such system either by way of direct charges or indirect charges such as imposed by taxation for the system upon the ultimate users.
Prior efforts have been made to effect collection of materials for recycling or reuse in containers or bags made distinctive by color coding. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,373 issued Sept. 25, 1984 to S. M. Weiss, there is disclosed a method for handling linen in a hospital involving the laundering of bed linens in a hospital in which the linens are color coded and are collected and distributed in color coded net bags to facilitate ready identification and easy, expeditious handling and allocation. The Weiss system, of course, is not a true recycling system, except insofar as the washing of clothes might be considered to be a somewhat related activity. The Weiss system is also not readily applicable to recycling of solid waste materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,639 issued June 14, 1988 to E. A. Schaerer discloses a presorting arrangement for household garbage involving the use of two or more (usually three) connected together garbage bags secured together to form, for example, a tripartite trash and garbage receptacle held on a form. Each bag may contain identifying markings, including separate color coding, to aid in placing trash of a certain type in each bag comprising the unitary sack. Schaerer also discloses that it was previously known to use various boxes with insertable sacks of different color to collect decomposable and other refuse in a household. Such an arrangement has the disclosed disadvantage of high purchase costs and space allocation.
Furthermore, while the ultimate residential consumer may be aided by color coded containers as disclosed in the Weiss or Schaerer patents, such color coding has little utility for the collection personnel unless substantially all households use the same color coding, which is difficult to achieve short of restrictive government regulation more appropriate to a police state than a democracy, particularly a heavily consumer-oriented democracy.
While, consequently, there have been prior uses of color coded trash receptacles and solid refuse sorting and separate handling before, the prior proposed systems have been subject to certain serious disadvantages.
The present inventor has found that the major disadvantages of prior systems may be effectively obviated by the use of color and otherwise coded plastic bags distributed substantially universally, or at least very widely, to households in a certain area through existing means, at little, if any, cost to such households or the residents thereof.
The present inventor has essentially realized that the problems inherent in obtaining cooperation of the general public in recycling of reclaimable materials and particularly those problems arising from the cost and inconvenience of recycling to the individual can be largely obviated in accordance with the present invention by providing an inexpensive ready source of recycling containers largely in the form of bags easily identified by color coding or other marking for each type of recyclable material, which bag-type containers are substantially automatically, regularly and inexpensively made available to the householder at the source of the waste products at either no or a negligible cost to the householder or other sorter of such reclaimables. Such containers or bags after filling with reclaimable material are readily collectable at curbside in residential and other areas and are themselves easily discarded and recycled after removal of the waste solid material. The regular provision and minimal cost to the ultimate user is attained by supplying the containers as a collection or assembly of bags delivered with the local daily papers. Such delivery may be accomplished either as a blank plastic bag assembly inserted into the papers or more preferably as an advertising bearing plastic bag assembly inserted into the papers. In favorable circumstances a major portion, if not all, of the cost of such containers can often be offset by paid advertising space provided on the surface of the bags. Thus the cheapness and reliability of supply of the container means overcomes, in many, if not most, cases the natural reluctance of the average householder to undertake and maintain serious recycling efforts. Delivery of the recycling container means directly and automatically to the final user or reclaimables separator prevents the development of a situation similar to that in the steel industry where the cost of recycling overcomes any small inherent advantage of using recycled material. In other words, the ease and universality of the distribution and collection system of the invention renders the collection and use of individual solid waste scrap more economical as compared to producing completely new material from whatever original ore or the like is available to produce fresh material. Stated otherwise, the cheapness and convenience of the method of the invention involving the automatic delivery of color coded bag assemblies to individual households together with the convenience and effectiveness of delivery in the form of the bag assembly of the invention largely overcomes the normal reluctance of large numbers of members of the public to take the trouble to cooperate with public recycling efforts. Appropriate laws and ordinances can be taken advantage of to add impetus to the average homeowner's efforts to use the bag assemblies of the invention to separate for collection and recycling several recyclable materials at once. The use of a plurality of containers marked to rationally aid in separating a plurality of materials at one time thus by decreasing the cost of separately recycling any single material renders recycling efforts effective and cost competitive. Furthermore, the substantial universal or widespread use aspects of the system of the invention substantially increase the efficiency of collection of recyclables under the system because of the uniform use of similar color coded containers by most, if not all, of the households in a given area.